Audi Festival of German Films 2015
The 14th annual Audi Festival of German Films is opening in Melbourne this week! Stephen Clarke has seen one of the films and has more on the festival.
German cinema enthusiasts won’t have to wait much longer as the 14th edition of the annual Audi Festival of German Films opens this week on May 14.
Showcasing some of the best recent German cinema, the films here cover a wide range of genres from comedy to thriller to historical drama and captures some of the important issues alive in Europe today. It also highlights the diversity of talent originating from one of Europe’s artistic powerhouses.
Who Am I, the latest offering by German director Baran bo Odar, is one such film that achieves this.
Upon meeting the egotistical and charismatic Max, the film follows shy and reclusive computer hacker Benjamin as he becomes drawn into dizzying rabbit hole filled with computer hacking, a smorgasbord of drugs and shadowy Russian cyber crime figures.
Director Odar finds a unique way of visualising the online ‘hacker space,’ a concept that has been attempted – not always successfully – but has rarely been portrayed in such a slick way that illustrates the tension and the stakes of the game.
This darkly comic cyber-thriller will have you laughing one minute and leave your heart pounding the next, as Benjamin’s hacking group sow disorder and chaos throughout Berlin.
Who Am I is just one of more than 50 films screening during the film festival which is being shown in eight locations around the country.
If Who Am I sounds like your kind of film, The King’s Surrendermight also be worth checking out. Described as a ‘cracking good crime thriller’, this film focuses on the colliding of worlds between a member of a corrupt SWAT team, a group of youths and a bunch of criminals.
The Audi Festival of German Films is screening at various Palace Cinemas venues across Melbourne, including South Yarra and the CBD. You can check out the festival program here or buy tickets at their official website.